HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Cork cambium (pl. cambia or cambiums) is a tissue found in many vascular plants as a part of the
epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rel ...
. It is one of the many layers of
bark Bark may refer to: * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Places * Bark, Germany * Bark, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland Arts, e ...
, between the cork and primary
phloem Phloem (, ) is the living tissue in vascular plants that transports the soluble organic compounds made during photosynthesis and known as ''photosynthates'', in particular the sugar sucrose, to the rest of the plant. This transport process is c ...
. The cork cambium is a lateral meristem and is responsible for secondary growth that replaces the
epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and hypodermis. The epidermis layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the amount of water rel ...
in
root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
s and
stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
s. It is found in woody and many herbaceous
dicot The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, ...
s,
gymnosperm The gymnosperms ( lit. revealed seeds) are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, '' Ginkgo'', and gnetophytes, forming the clade Gymnospermae. The term ''gymnosperm'' comes from the composite word in el, γυμν ...
s and some
monocot Monocotyledons (), commonly referred to as monocots, (Lilianae '' sensu'' Chase & Reveal) are grass and grass-like flowering plants (angiosperms), the seeds of which typically contain only one embryonic leaf, or cotyledon. They constitute one ...
s (monocots usually lack secondary growth). It is one of the plant's meristems – the series of tissues consisting of embryonic disk (incompletely differentiated) cells from which the plant grows. The function of cork cambium is to produce the
cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
, a tough protective material.Junikka, L. (1994) "Macroscopic bark terminology". ''IAWA Journal'' 15(1): 3–45Trockenbrodt, M. (1990) "Survey and discussion of the terminology used in bark anatomy". ''IAWA Bulletin, New Series'' 11: 141–166 Synonyms for cork cambium are bark cambium, pericambium and phellogen. Phellogen is defined as the meristematic cell layer responsible for the development of the periderm. Cells that grow inwards from there are termed ''phelloderm'', and cells that develop outwards are termed ''phellem'' or cork (note similarity with
vascular cambium The vascular cambium is the main growth tissue in the stems and roots of many plants, specifically in dicots such as buttercups and oak trees, gymnosperms such as pine trees, as well as in certain other vascular plants. It produces secondary xy ...
). The periderm thus consists of three different layers: * phelloderm – inside of cork cambium; composed of living parenchyma cells * phellogen (cork cambium) – meristem that gives rise to periderm * phellem (cork) – dead at maturity; air-filled ery variable between different species, and is also highly dependent on age and growth conditions, as can be observed from the different surfaces of bark, which may be smooth, fissured, tesselated, scaly, or flaking off.


Economic importance

Commercial
cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
is derived from the bark of the
cork oak ''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the core ...
''(Quercus suber).'' Cork has many uses including wine bottle stoppers, bulletin boards, coasters, hot pads to protect tables from hot pans, insulation, sealing for lids, flooring, gaskets for engines, fishing bobbers, handles for fishing rods and tennis rackets, etc. It is also a high strength-to-weight/cost ablative material for aerodynamic prototypes in wind tunnels, as well as satellite launch vehicle payload fairings, reentry surfaces, and compression joints in thrust-vectored solid rocket motor nozzles. Many types of bark are used as mulch.


See also

*
Complementary cells Complementary cells are a mass of cells in plants, formed from the cork cambium at the position of the lenticels. It is a group of loosely arranged cells that aid in gaseous exchange through cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (mate ...
* Frost crack *
Sun scald (flora) Sun scald is the freezing of bark following high temperatures in the winter season, resulting in permanent visible damage to bark. Fruits may also be damaged. In the northern hemisphere, it is also called southwest injury. Causes The reason the ...


References

{{Biological tissue Plant anatomy